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TRP: Goro and Ombre (Research)
Setting The abbey library, late at night. Goro is seated at a table covered in heavy books, new and old. By lantern light he pores over the pages, fully absorbed and unusually inattentive to his surroundings. At his hand is a page on which he's been scribbling notes in his nigh-illegible handwriting. Player 1: Somewhere in the library there is a slight creaking sound -- possibly just timbers settling. Then, Ombre appears out of nowhere in her kitsune form, sitting across from Goro with her chin propped up on her hand, little lights dancing around her head. "Hey, best buddy," she says brightly. "Whatcha readin'?" Player 2: Goro jumps, points his finger, and fires an eldritch blast at the attacker. She tilts slightly to one side and the beam shoots past her, hitting a bookshelf which explodes into wood splinters and shredded paper. "Ah, fuck," Goro mutters. His senses come back to him and he stares at Ombre, unamused. "Don't. Do. That." Player 1: Ombre laughs a delicate musical laugh. "Aw. You're so jumpy. Maybe if you weren't sitting in a big empty dark library you wouldn't be such an easy target." She pokes at one of his books, threatening to upset a pile. Player 2: Goro grabs the pile to keep it stable, and huffs out a breath through his nose. "Ombre. It is good to see you. Been a while. I thought this was about the one place outside my own bedroom I could find some peace, so good to know I can cross it off the list." Player 1: She grins. "Peace is overrated. You look like a guy who needs some fun." She snaps her fingers and summons up more little lights to drift around both of them. "Why so dour, huh?" Player 2: He watches the lights for a while, and seems to relax a little. "I've spent the last two nights here. I swear I've checked almost every book in this damn library already..." He pauses, eyes on the destroyed bookshelf. "Not those ones. I hadn't gotten to those ones yet. Fuck. Makes a man testy, not finding what he's looking for." He taps a fingernail on his page of notes and frowns. Player 1: She glances at his notes, then over her shoulder. "Well, I'm sure someone can fix that. Not me. But someone, probably." Then back to his notes, nosily. "Your handwriting is terrible, by the way." She yawns and stretches her arms over her head, and leans back in her chair. "Well, I'm bored and good at finding stuff. Whatcha looking for?" Player 2: He scrutinizes her for a moment. Huh. Well, why the hell not. "I'm researching... aberrations. But I've known my way around this library for years, so I'm not sure you'd be any better at finding information than I am. There just doesn't seem to be much written on the topic. Well, a specific type, that I've settled on." He leans over to read his notes. "Illithid," he says slowly, struggling to pronounce the Undercommon. "Also known as Mind Flayers. I've found enough to make me curious, then pissed off that no one seems to know more." Player 1: Ombre freezes, then slowly tilts her head. Her voice lowers. "Why are you researching illithid, Goro?" Player 2: The corner of his mouth twitches. "Oh? You've heard of them?" Player 1: She draws a little circle on the table with one claw, thinking for a moment. "I've met'em." Player 2: His eyes widen briefly. "Oh. Have you. Recently?" Player 1: "Well, I haven't been to the Underdark recently, no." She makes a face. "You remember that I'm very old, right? It was a long time ago. Don't tell anyone." Player 2: "Oh, Ombre, I wouldn't dream of it. Isn't this a private chat we're having? I like to think anything said here tonight, by either of us, won't leave this room." He raises his eyebrows. "You seem... troubled, if that's the right word. By my subject of choice." Player 1: "Illithids are troubling, Goro," she says, a little dryly. She's never been this serious before. "You didn't pick up on that from your books?" She pokes at a stack again. Player 2: He watches impassively this time, and does nothing when the stack leans heavily to one side and collapses, books sliding across the table. "Aberrations usually are. What makes Illithids so special?" Player 1: "Well, I'm not a fan of the fact that their larvae eat people's brains."(bearbeitet) Player 2: Goro pauses a moment, then scribbles something on his sheet of notes. "Come again?" Player 1: "They all eat brains, I mean." She says it like she's trying to be casual. "But it's a nasty way to make a new illithid. Put a larva in some poor human head, next thing you know ..." She gestures to her face. "Tentacles." Player 2: "Tentacles," he says, considering. "On their face? All of them?" Player 1: "Oh yeah, for sure. Can't miss'em." Player 2: "Hm." He frowns. "Can they... control people, or anything like that? Like puppets?" Player 1: She thinks. "I don't know about puppets. They can make servants out of things they don't bother to eat -- ogres, stuff like that. They've got those nasty controlling spells, y'know?" Then she pauses and looks over her shoulder at the wrecked bookcase. "Hey, you know, I don't know a lot about clerics, but that didn't seem like a cleric spell, now that I'm thinking about it." She looks back at him, slyly. Player 2: "We're full of surprises," he says. He's frowning at his notes again, scratching his temple. "Maybe I'm way off." Player 1: His caginess makes her grin again, but then it fades a little. "Do you ... think there are mindflayers in Skyport? Or is this something else?" Player 2: "I don't know," he says. "Have you been getting out in the city much? Visiting any shops?" Player 1: She shrugs. "Nothing that makes me think 'hey, maybe I'll turn a corner and someone will eat my brain'." Player 2: "Huh. You must not visit the same neighborhoods I do, then. I met someone a few weeks ago." His eyes turn distant, and he gives no indication he plans to explain. Player 1: She waits for a moment, watching him. Tilts her head again. "Someone with tentacles for a face? 'Cause if so, that was an illithid," she jokes, a little weakly. Player 2: Goro smiles in appreciation. "No. No tentacles. But black eyes. A body like a suit she's still getting comfortable in. And an unusual fixation on acquiring bodies." Player 1: Ombre straightens abruptly and her voice drops an octave. "Goro, did you make a deal with the Hunger?" Player 2: "The what?" Player 1: "The Hunger, Goro." She grabs for his hand. Player 2: He yanks it away. "What the hell is the Hunger?" Player 1: She pulls back, rubbing at her own palm. "I don't know. I don't know, but it's older than me. It's older than illithids, I'll tell you that." Player 2: "What the--" He catches himself before he repeats the exact same pointless question. "What makes you think I made a deal with the Hunger? What did I say?" Player 1: She laughs, completely humorlessly. "The black eyes. The bodies it doesn't really know how to use. It's not something you forget, is it?" She pauses, her voice getting quieter. "Even when you hang out in your own tomb for a decade or two." Player 2: His eyes narrow. "What was it like, when you met it? Describe it." Player 1: She rolls her shoulders like she's coming out from under something and slouches in her chair again. "It had a couple bodies then. Same voice, same creepy eyes. It wanted more. I didn't give it any." She stares at him. "Did you?" Player 2: He opens his mouth, then closes it again. He blinks a few times and swallows. "Not... yet." Player 1: She sighs. "Aw, Goro." Player 2: "It tricked me," he says. But he looks more scared than angry. Player 1: "I know." She rubs at her palm again. "I know. We all want things." Then she tries to smile. "But you haven't done it yet, right? There's always time to fix things." Player 2: "That's what I'm looking for," he says, losing control of his temper and pounding a hand on the table. He catches himself quick, shakes his head, and wrings his hands together. "A way to fix it." Player 1: "What did you do?" she asks, calmly. "What did you promise it?" Player 2: He hesitates, smiles mirthlessly. "Two things. Are the details important?" Player 1: "They might be." She pauses. "Or might not. Up to you." Player 2: "How do I kill it," he says flatly. "That's all I want to know." Player 1: She shakes her head. "I don't know. I ran away from it as soon as I could." Player 2: Goro shuts the last book he was reading. "Well. If you don't know, who does?" Player 1: Ombre taps her claws on the table, thinking. "I got nothin'." Player 2: Goro slumps in his chair, looking defeated. "Thanks, I guess. For trying. You want something? I'll pay you for your time."(bearbeitet) Player 1: She barks out a laugh. "Honey, you think you have more gold than me? That's adorable. Keep it." But she looks away, thinking for a beat, and snaps her fingers. When she holds that hand out to Goro, there's a small copper whistle on a chain on her palm. "But hey. Listen. I'm a coward. But if you need help, give me a whistle and maybe I won't flake out." She shrugs. "Or maybe I will." Player 2: "I'm touched." He takes the whistle and examines it. "You sure you got the right one? Sure this isn't some kind of spell that'll bust people's eardrums? What if I blow it right now?" He holds it to his lips, threatening. Player 1: She grins. "Go for it, buddy." Player 2: He blows gently. Player 1: He doesn't hear a sound, but her ears twitch seemingly of their own volition. She winks at him. Player 2: "What do you know." He slips the chain over his head and tugs on the whistle. "Hey. While you're here. You're a shapeshifter; you got any tips or tricks for knowing whether you're talking to someone who's got a fake face on?" Player 1: "All my faces are real." Her form flickers and Sugar sits in front of him. Then she blurs back into her kitsune body. "I used to have this mask, though." Player 2: "You know what, I'm sorry I asked." Goro stands up and testily puts out the lantern. He's about to storm away, but he pauses. "Thanks, though. And we're agreed, we don't tell anyone about what was said tonight? By either of us?" Player 1: She seems surprised by his reaction, raising an eyebrow, but waves it off. "Oh, who would I tell?" she says airily. "No one believes a word I say." She vanishes and reappears in front of him, a little too close for comfort, her voice low. "Goro. If you find out anything about the Hunger ..." She taps his chest lightly, where the whistle rests. "You get in touch." Then she blinks away again. END Category:Text Roleplay